Boys' swimming: Pioneer, Lion seniors honored

Though the regular season’s end is still a month away, the Leavenworth and Lansing boys’ swimming teams hosted their final home meet of the year Tuesday.

With that in mind, the squads honored their seniors during the contest, which also included Bishop Miege and Washington.

After the soon-to-be alums were recognized, the teams completed the competition, where Miege came out on top with 122 points. The Lions were second at 73.5, followed by the Pioneers’ 24.5 and Washington’s four.

“I was happy with today,” Lansing coach Josh Floetke said. “We had one more official state time in the 200 medley and another consideration time with Jake Hecht. Other than that, our kids continued to give solid performances. Quite a few of them continue to improve and move up the ranks like Tyler Tavano, so we are really starting to develop some depth.”

In the 200 yard freestyle, Lansing’s Hecht, Jack Bresser and Chase Martin went two, three and four. Dion DePaolis then followed that up for the Lions by winning the 200 yard IM, where Luke Lozenski got second.

Lozenski was third in the 100 butterfly while Lion Stephen Szmed placed fourth in the 100 free. Lansing’s Matt Holden and Martin placed one and two in the 500 free with Pioneer Carsten Defore coming in third.

The 100 backstroke saw the two rivals break even when Holden and Leavenworth’s Clayton Gubler both touched at the same time. They each earned second.

During the 100 breaststroke, Pioneer Ryan Hill won first with Szmed right behind him in second.

“The last few weeks it just seems like we’ve been dragging,” Leavenworth coach Willis Willmeth said. “I can’t really figure out why, but we just have not swam well. We will need to figure something out before next Monday.”

Both Leavenworth and Lansing will compete at Washington Monday beginning at 4 p.m.